The death of Little Nell tends to overshadow much else in the novel, such as the fiendish, wife-abusing, dwarf Quilp and Nell's grandfather, enmeshed in the net of compulsive gambling that ultimately kills the child he loves so dearly. Read by Dickens's brightest star.

Even in the 1950s, the workhouse loomed large for London's poor, such as the widowed old soldier here facing having his legs amputated and the 15-year-old orphan determined to secure the release of his sister. Dignified and unsentimental social history.

The Sunday SessionsPhilip Larkin(Faber £10.99, 1hr)

These 26 poems were recorded by Larkin in 1980 in a series of sessions after Sunday lunch - and then left in a garage for more than 20 years. This is their first full publication and what a wonder they are. Perhaps it's the quality of his lunch, but Larkin brings a startlingly new and vigorous dimension to his poems.